Record-keeping Crucial To Dieting On A Cruise

SALAD DAYS

Bernice LaChance of Newington is lucky. She spent a week this month visiting the coast of Mexico and the Cayman Islands.

As someone who fought a mighty battle to lose 28 pounds (and has regained 8), LaChance was not so lucky, though, because her vacation was on a cruise ship.

These vessels are notorious for their food. Every time you turn around, there's another fattening temptation, as LaChance knew from her pudge-inducing cruise to the Caribbean last year.

This time, she was going armed and determined to fight weight gain, especially since she vowed out loud at one of her Take Pounds Off Sensibly meetings that she wasn't going to take on any personal ballast this time.

At first, LaChance couldn't resist the omelets at the breakfast buffet, but she says, ``after a few days, I realized how much I was eating'' and she dropped the egg concoctions and went for grapefruit and an English muffin with butter for breakfast.

``I didn't even use a whole pat of butter though,'' says LaChance. The reason she can say so with certainty, as well as discuss in detail every morsel she put her mouth during her weeklong cruise, is that she wrote it down.

LaChance had never kept a food journal before, but she told her fellow TOPS members she was going to on this cruise and she did.

She also paced herself, having coffee when she awoke and breakfast at 9:30 or 10 a.m. This filled her so she only had a light lunch -- a snack really -- mid-afternoon. It was more fruit and lots of vegetables, often stir-fried at one of the grills set up during the day.

At night, LaChance most often chose the ``ship shape'' meal from the menu, which included first and main courses as well as dessert.

The dinner was filling and good except for the fat-free salad dressing, which is always lousy even when you're floating through turquoise waters on a pleasure ship called Rhapsody of the Sea.

LaChance, who is 77 years old, did plenty of walking on deck and in the ports where the Rhapsody pulled in, but she says she didn't go to the ship's gym nor did she swim.

She also had asked her son to plan her meals and slap her hand when she reached for fattening foods, but she found she didn't need his help after all.

She weighed herself before and after and didn't gain a pound -- a true accomplishment that she attributes to journal-keeping and the pledge she made to fellow TOPS members.

To illustrate how we all have to be as vigilant as LaChance was on her cruise, right after she returned home, she had to go to Maine for the weekend to attend a funeral. She left her journal and her vow behind and gained 2 pounds in two days, she says.

Helpful Websites

A reader recommends www.eDiets.com. It's ``loaded with information and support,'' she says.

Having passed along this information, she'd like some from readers on something called Bio-Trainer II, a gadget you hook onto your belt that gives you a reading on how many calories you burn.

I think something like that could be a big help during exercise routines, although obviously calories expended is not the only measure of a good workout.

Does anyone know about this gizmo or about other ones that work -- or don't?

Another website a reader thinks is good is www.aicr.org, which is the site of the American Institute for Cancer Research. It has information on an approach to healthy eating called ``The New American Plate.''

Portion size is the emphasis, along with a diet of two-thirds ``plant-based foods'' like vegetables, fruits, whole grains and beans, and one-third animal protein. It seems solid.

By the way, have you noticed the pendulum swinging away from high protein diets lately?

Certainly critical of them is the Nutrition Committee of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism of the American Heart Association. These diets generally have a high intake of fat and cholesterol and restrict ``healthful foods that provide essential nutrients, and do not provide the variety of foods needed to adequately meet nutritional needs,'' says the council.

This group explains the fast initial weight loss on these diets is actually due to fluid loss related to reduced carbohydrate intake and ``ketosis-induced appetite suppression.''

Claudia Van Nes may be reached via e-mail at vannes@courant.com; by telephone at 860-388-1407 or 860-343-5251 or by mail at The Hartford Courant, Old Saybrook News Bureau, 265 Main St., Old Saybrook, CT 06475.